pretext

/ˌpriˈtɛkst/

/ˈpritɛkst/

Other forms: pretexts

Pretext is a false reason given for doing something. If you catch your mother going through your drawers, and she says she was just tidying up, cleaning was her pretext for snooping.

Sometimes a government will try to take away its citizens' rights under the pretext of national security. Though pretext sounds like text that comes before other text, the text you see in it is actually more closely related to the word textile, meaning fabric. Its Latin root meant pretty much "to pull the wool over someone's eyes."

Definitions of pretext

1. noun

   something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason
   synonyms: stalking-horse

   types:

   putoff

   a pretext for delay or inaction

   type of:

   dissembling, feigning, pretence, pretense

   pretending with intention to deceive
2. noun

   an artful or simulated semblance
   synonyms: guise, pretence, pretense

   type of:

   color, colour, gloss, semblance, veneer

   an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading